Lindsey Christiansen Art Song Festival 2025
Love Seasons
with Lydia Brown, piano
Nathan Anderson, baritone
Maxwell Brey, baritone
Abigail Culkin, soprano
Alexa Farah, soprano
Sarah Ounsworth, soprano
Abbey Ritter, soprano
Saturday, March 1, 2025 at 3:00 p.m.
Gill Memorial Chapel
Rider University
2083 Lawrenceville Road
Lawrenceville, N.J.
Program Note
This program was curated by Dr. Lydia Brown and features underrepresented composers and poets.
Program
Love Seasons
Songs of the Season (Langston Hughes) Margaret Bonds
Young Love in Spring (1913-1972)
Poème d’Automne
Winter Moon
Summer Storm
Abigail Culkin, soprano
From Sorrow Songs (Christina Rossetti)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Oh what comes over the Sea (1875-1912)
When I am dead, my dearest
Oh, Roses for the flush of youth
She sat and sang alway
Unmindful of the Roses
Maxwell Brey, baritone
From Love and Longing
Nkeiru Okoye (b. 1972)
Whatever our souls are made of (based on Emily Brönte’s Wuthering Heights)
Mr. Rochester (based on Charlotte Brönte’s Jane Eyre)
Alexa Farah, soprano
Intermission
And wilt Thou Leave Me Thus? (Sir Thomas Wyatt) George Walker
Take, O Take those Lips away (William Shakespeare) (1922-2018)
Sence you went away (Langston Hughes) Leslie Adams
Prayer from “Nightsongs” (Langston Hughes) (1932-2024)
Nathan Anderson, baritone
When Sue wears Red (Langston Hughes)
Ricky Ian Gordon Angel Wings (b. 1956) Stars
In Time of Silver Rain
Sarah Ounsworth, soprano
Bewilderment (Langston Hughes)
Florence B. Price Song to the Dark Virgin (1887-1953) We have Tomorrow Feet o’ Jesus Hold Fast to Dreams
Abbey Ritter, soprano
Texts & Translations
Songs of the Season (Langston Hughes)
Young Love in in Spring
When the March winds roar like a lion, and the last little snowflakes drift down from a half dreary, half happy April sky, and then lovely May rolls around, and I walk with you down a country lane, we know that spring has come again.
When the rising sun laughs at the dawn, and the scent of the soil’s warm and sweet, and the little green sprouts peep out of the earth and grow upward, the sunshine to greet, and we find a violet beside the way, we know that spring has come our way, spring has come again.
When I look at you in the haze of the twilight’s last lingering glow, in the half dusky, half starry evening sky, where sweet scented winds gently blow, and our dreams like birds heading homeward soar, we know that spring has come once more.
Poème d’Automne
The autumn leaves
Are too heavy with color. The slender trees
On the Vulcan Road
Are dressed in scarlet and gold
Like young courtesans
Waiting for their lovers. But soon
The winter winds Will strip their bodies bare And then
The sharp, sleet-stung Caresses of cold Will be their only Love.
Winter Moon
How thin and sharp is the moon tonight! How thin and sharp and ghostly white Is the slim curved crook of the moon tonight!
Summer Storm
Thunder, July thunder and the wonder of lightning in the sky, and a sudden gale that shakes the blossoms down in perfumed splendor to the grassy ground.
Thunder, July thunder and the wonder in my heart that I have found you, wonderful you, beneath the blossoms gay, in the perfumed splendor of a July day.
With the wonder of summer lightning in the sky, and a sudden gale that shakes the blossoms down like confetti in your hair, like confetti on the ground, perfumed confetti drifting down on the sweet and wonderful summer earth.
There pillowed on the grass in the orchard’s shade, I kissed you, and kissed you, and kissed you, and kissed you till a sudden gale shook the blossoms down, confetti in your hair, confetti on the ground, and then the rain, the soft sweet rain came down.
We run down the road in the dust of July, we are happy for the rain, clean and cool from on high, in the dust, hand in hand, in the dust of July, hand in hand, you and I in July.
Thunder in my heart, the wonder of love, thunder, wonder in our eyes: the wonder of being in love, we two, the wonder of being in love with you.
II.
From Sorrow Songs (Christina Rossetti)
Oh What Comes Over The Sea
Oh what comes over the sea, Shoals and quicksands past; And what comes home to me, Sailing slow, sailing fast?
A wind comes over the sea With a moan in its blast; But nothing comes home to me, Sailing slow, sailing fast. Let me be, let me be, For my lot is cast: Land or sea all’s one to me, And sail it slow or fast.
When I Am Dead, My Dearest
When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me; Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree: Be the green grass above me With showers and dewdrops wet; And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget. I shall not see the shadows, I shall not feel the rain; I shall not hear the nightingale Sing on, as if in pain: And dreaming through the twilight That doth not rise nor set, Haply I may remember, And haply may forget.
O Roses For the Flush of Youth
O roses for the flush of youth, And laurel for the perfect prime; But pluck an ivy branch for me Grown old before my time.
O violets for the grave of youth, And bay for those dead in their prime; Give me the withered leaves I chose Before in the old time.
She Sat And Sang Alway
She sat and sang alway
By the green margin of a stream, Watching the fishes leap and play
Beneath the glad sunbeam.
I sat and wept alway
Beneath the moon’s most shadowy beam, Watching the blossoms of the May
Weep leaves into the stream. I wept for memory;
She sang for hope that is so fair: My tears were swallowed by the sea; Her songs died on the air.
Unmindful Of The Roses
Unmindful of the roses, Unmindful of the thorn, A reaper tired reposes
Among his gathered corn: So might I, till the morn!
Cold as the cold Decembers, Past as the days that set, While only one remembers And all the rest forget, -But one remembers yet.
From Love and Longing
Whatever our souls are made of (based on Emily Brönte’s Wuthering Heights)
Today, Edgar Linton has asked me to marry him and I said, “yes.”
Tell me this, was I right?
He is handsome, pleasant, and rich and yet, whatever our souls are made of they don’t lie. They don’t lie!
Whatever our souls are made of another belongs to mine. Please turn page quietly
I dreamt that I was in heaven. There I wept and wept until the angels flung me out saying, “Catherine, go back to Wuthering Heights.” There I woke sobbing for joy! I could glimpse my beloved Heathcliff. I’ve got no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in Heaven, and if Heathcliff had not been brought so low. I shouldn’t have thought of Edgar so.
Whatever our souls are made of, they don’t lie. They don’t lie!
Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine, his and mine much has lost, time has past.
Destiny has foreseen somehow. I can never marry beloved Heathcliff now. So he should never know how I love him. And I do love him, I love him! And that’s not because he’s handsome, but because he’s more myself than I am.
Whatever our souls are made of, they don’t lie. They don't lie!
Whatever our souls are made of, Heathcliff’s belongs to mine.
Mr. Rochester (based on Charlotte Brönte’s Jane Eyre)
Do you think I can stay here at Thornfield to become nothing to you, Mr. Rochester? Do you think I am a machine without feelings and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips? and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Mr. Rochester?
Do you think because I’m poor, obscure, plain and little I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! I have as much soul as you, and full as much heart, and if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I would have made it hard for you to leave me as it is now for me to leave you.
Mister Rochester? It is my Spirit addressing your Spirit, Mr. Rochester? It’s as though both had passed through the grave and stood at God’s feet as equals, as we are.
INTERMISSION
And Wilt thou leave me Thus (Sir Thomas Wyatt)
And wilt thou leave me thus?
Say nay, say nay, for shame, To save thee from the blame
Of all my grief and grame; And wilt thou leave me thus?
Say nay, say nay!
And wilt thou leave me thus, That hath loved thee so long In wealth and woe among? And is thy heart so strong As for to leave me thus?
Say nay, say nay!
And wilt thou leave me thus, That hath given thee my heart Never for to depart, Nother for pain nor smart; And wilt thou leave me thus?
Say nay, say nay!
And wilt thou leave me thus And have no more pity Of him that loveth thee?
Hélas, thy cruelty! And wilt thou leave me thus?
Say nay, say nay!
Take, o take those lips away (William Shakespeare) Take, oh take those lips away, That so sweetly were forsworn, And those eyes: the breake of day, Lights that do mislead the Morn; But my kisses bring again, bring again, Seals of love, but sealed in vain, sealed in vain.
Sence You Went Away (James Weldon Johnson)
Seems lak to me de stars don’t shine so bright, Seems lak to me de sun done loss his light, Seems lak to me der’s nothin’ goin’ right, Sence you went away.
Seems lak to me de sky ain’t half so blue, Seems lak to me dat ev’rything wants you, Seems lak to me I don’t know what to do, Sence you went away.
Oh ev’ything is wrong, De day’s jes twice as long, De bird’s forgot his song Sence you went away.
Please turn page quietly
Seems lak to me I jes can’t he’p but sigh, Seems lak to me ma th’oat keeps gittin dry, Seems lak to me a tear stays in my eye
Sence you went away.
Prayer (Hughes)
I ask you this: Which way to go? I ask you this: Which sin to bear? Which crown to put Upon my hair?
I do not know, Lord God, I do not know.
When Sue Wears Red (Hughes)
When Susanna Jones wears red Her face is like an ancient cameo Turned brown by the ages.
Come with a blast of trumpets, Jesus!
When Susanna Jones wears red
A queen from some time-dead Egyptian night Walks once again.
Blow trumpets, Jesus!
And the beauty of Susanna Jones in red Burns in my heart a love-fire sharp like pain
Sweet silver trumpets, Jesus!
Angels Wings (Hughes)
The angels wings is white as snow, O, white as snow, White as snow.
The angels wings is white as snow,
But I drug ma wings
In the dirty mire.
O, I drug ma wings
All through the fire.
But the angels wings is white as snow, White as snow.
Stars (Hughes)
O, sweep of stars over Harlem streets,
O, little breath of oblivion that is night.
A city building
To a mother’s song.
A city dreaming
To a lullaby.
Reach up your hand, dark boy, and take a star.
Out of the little breath of oblivion
That is night,
Take just One star.
In Time of Silver Rain (Hughes)
In time of silver rain, The earth,
Puts forth new life again, Green grasses grow
And flowers lift their heads, And over all the plain
The wonder spreads
Of life, Of life, Of life!
In time of silver rain
The butterflies
Lift silken wings
To catch a rainbow cry, And trees put forth
New leaves to sing
In joy beneath the sky
As down the roadway
Passing boys and girls
Go singing, too,
Please turn page quietly
In time of silver rain When spring And life Are new.
Bewilderment (Hughes)
I ask you this: Which way to go? I ask you this: Which sin to bear? Which crown to put Upon my hair? I do not know, Lord God, I do not know.
Songs to the Dark Virgin (Hughes) Would
That I were a jewel, A shattered jewel, That all my shining brilliants Might fall at thy feet, Thou dark one.
Would
That I were a garment, A shimmering, silken garment, That all my folds Might wrap about thy body, Absorb thy body, Hold and hide thy body, Thou dark one.
Would That I were a flame, But one sharp, leaping flame To annihilate thy body, Thou dark one.
VI.
We have Tomorrow (Hughes)
We have tomorrow
Bright before us
Like a flame.
Yesterday, a night-gone thing, A sun-down name.
And dawn to-day
Broad arch above the road we came.
Feet o’ Jesus (Hughes)
At de feet o' Jesus, Sorrow like a sea.
Lordy, let yo' mercy
Come driftin' down on me.
At de feet o' Jesus
At yo' feet I stand.
O, ma little Jesus,
Please reach out yo' hand.
Hold Fast to Dreams (Hughes)
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
2025 Lindsey Christiansen
Art Song Festival Team –
Lydia Brown, Artistic Programming Director, Musical Coaching, & Pianist
Pianist Lydia Brown has achieved and enjoys a diverse career in recital, opera and chamber music. She has appeared in recital at the Salle Cortot, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Alice Tully Hall, Weill Hall, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Coolidge auditorium at the Library of Congress and the Phillips Gallery, and has toured with many prominent artists from the rosters of the Pro Musicis Foundation, Young Concert Artists, the Piatigorsky Foundation, Musicians from Marlboro and Concert Artists Guild. After completing the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Program, Lydia Brown became an assistant conductor at The Metropolitan Opera and has maintained a position there since 2005. She joined the music staff of the San Francisco Opera in 2011. In addition, Miss Brown has enjoyed long working relationships with Spoleto Festival USA, SongFest and Gotham Chamber Opera.
Among her primary interests is the preparation and performance of new music which includes world premieres of song cycles by John Harbison, Libby Larsen, Richard Hundley, Paola Prestini, Daniel Sonenberg and Renee FavandSee and the musical preparation of operatic premieres including “Èmilie” by Kaija Saariaho, “Faustus the Last Night” by Pascal Dusapin, the NYC premiere of Elliott Carter’s “What Next?” and “Dolores Claiborne” by Tobias Picker. She is honored to have served on the jury of the Naumburg International Vocal Competition, as well as on the mentoring panel of the Duffy Institute of New Opera.
Miss Brown is the current Chair of the Collaborative Piano Department at The Juilliard School. Other teaching appointments include positions at the Yale School of Music and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Opera faculty. Since 2006 she has been the coordinator and pianist of the Vocal Program at the Marlboro Music Festival and School.
Her special interests include Music For Food, of which she founded the Cincinnati chapter, and Sing For Hope in which she performed on the inaugural concert.
Victoria Browers, producer & coordinator Julia Hanna, musical preparation
The Singers
Nathan Anderson is a baritone from Nashville, TN who is currently studying with Margaret Cusack at Westminster Choir College in New Jersey in pursuit of a Master in Vocal Pedagogy and Performance degree. Nathan has performed lead roles in operas such as La Serva Padrona and Enemies: A Love Story.
Maxwell Brey, baritone, is a graduate student studying choral conducting. Previous performances include Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus (Westminster Opera Theatre), Path of Miracles (Spoleto Festival USA), and La Bohème (Philadelphia Symphonic Choir). He holds a BM in Music Education from WCC and studies with Christopher Arneson.
Soprano Abigail Culkin is a senior in Voice Performance and minor in Arts Administration. She studies with Margaret Cusack. Opera performances include Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, Prima Sorella Cercatrice in Suor Angelica. Awards include 1st place in the Westminster Choir College 2024 & 2023 Voice Awards and 1st place and Honors Award in 2021 Peabody Preparatory Voice Competition.
Alexa Farah is a soprano who is currently a junior Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance and Music Education studying with Margaret Cusack. Past performances include Adele in Die Fledermaus with Westminster Opera Theatre. In 2024, Alexa won 1st place New Jersey NATS Festival of Singing and 1st place in the Westminster Voice Awards.
Sarah Ounsworth, soprano, is pursuing a MM in Voice and studies with Robin Massie. Past performances include Pamina (The Magic Flute), Signora Naccarelli (The Light in the Piazza) and Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus). Awards include 2022 & 2023 winner of the Upper Collegiate art song division at Lehigh Valley NATS, 2022 winner of Marywood University’s Concerto Competition, Sister Davidica Kildea Medal for Excellence in Voice
Abbey Ritter, soprano, recently completed her bachelor’s in music education at Westminster and is now pursuing a master’s in music education with a concentration in vocal pedagogy. Abbey was the recipient of the 2022 Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award and she has previously performed in master classes with Angel Blue and Lauren Athey-Janka.
The Lindsey Christiansen Art Song Festival Endowment Fund
For decades Westminster Choir College has been a Center for the study of Art Song, which has included an annual Art Song Festival. After she passed away in 2017, the Festival was named for Lindsey Christiansen to honor her life and legacy. Professor of Voice at Westminster Choir College for 40 years, from 1977 to 2017, and Chair of the Voice Department for 18 years, Professor Christiansen specialized in German Lieder and was a life-long student and lover of the music of Franz Schubert. She was an exceptional voice teacher and a demanding professor of song literature classes, where she instilled in countless students a love for song.
Established to honor the life and legacy of Professor Lindsey Christiansen, this fund sustains the study and performance of art song at Westminster Choir College. Contributions may be made online at rider.edu/supportartsong or sent to:
Westminster Choir College of Rider University
Attn: Art Song Festival
2083 Lawrenceville Road Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
About Rider University and The Department of Performing Arts
Located in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, Rider University is a private co-educational, student-centered university that emphasizes purposeful connections between academic study and real-world learning experience. Rider prepares graduates to thrive professionally, to be lifelong independent learners, and to be responsible citizens who embrace diversity, support the common good, and contribute meaningfully to the changing world in which they live and work.
The College of Arts and Sciences is dedicated to educating students for engaged citizenship, career success, and personal growth in a diverse and complex world. The college cultivates intellectual reflection, artistic creativity, and academic maturity by promoting both broad academic inquiry and in-depth disciplinary study, while nurturing effective and ethical applications of transferable critical skills. The College consists of four schools: the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the School of Communication, Media, and Performing Arts, the School of Science, Technology, and Mathematics, and Westminster Choir College.
Through its dynamic mix of academic programs, The Department of Performing Arts helps aspiring professional performers, producers, managers, designers, technicians and entrepreneurs find their unique path in an ever-evolving industry. Acknowledged as innovative and contemporary, the Department of Performing Arts aspires to build a more equitable, engaging and sustainable future for the performing arts while exploring the many diverse historical, cultural, social and creative threads that add to our rich tapestry.
Upcoming Performances
WESTMINSTER FACULTY RECITAL SERIES: AMERICAN ART SONGS
Sunday, March 2, 3 p.m.
Gill Chapel
CELEBRATION OF BLACK MUSIC
Sunday March 2 – Sunday March 9
Gill Chapel + more
RIDER DANCES
Saturday, March 8, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 9, 2 p.m.
Bart Luedeke Center Theater
WESTMINSTER CONCERT BELL CHOIR IN CONCERT
Friday, March 28, 2025
Trinity Presbyterian Church 499 Marlton Pike East, Cherry Hill, NJ 08034
WESTMINSTER CHOIR & THE BACH CHOIR OF BETHLEHEMRACHMANINOFF: ALL-NIGHT VIGIL (VESPERS)
Saturday, March 29, 7:30 p.m.
The Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul 1723 Race St, Philadelphia, PA 19103
Sunday, March 30, 4:00 p.m.
First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem 2344 Center St, Bethlehem, PA 18017
NEW MUSIC CONCERT SERIES
Sunday, April 6, 3 p.m.
Gill Chapel
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON UPCOMING PERFORMANCES, SUBSCRIPTION AND PATRON PROGRAM OPTIONS, VISIT RIDER.EDU/ARTS.
